Lookin' good for propellant loading...

One of the critical phases of a Baikonur launch campaign involves filling the propellant tanks of the spacecraft. Now, when the average person hears the word "propellant," he or she might think "propellant" is the same thing, more or less, as "fuel" (as in gasoline for your car). However, to do its thing, the energy bound up in a fuel needs to be released, and the best way to do that is to get a reaction going with oxygen. On earth, this is not much of a problem, as we are sitting in an atmosphere that is about 20% oxygen (effectively an unlimited supply), so about the only thing you need to worry about to "go" is, indeed, fuel.

In space, however, there's no air, so you have to bring your oxygen source with you. Thus, "propellant" comprises both "fuel" and a source of oxygen, called "oxidizer." Mix the two - and you don't have to do much else except place them in physical contact with each other - and it goes whooosshhhh!!! If you figure out a way to do it smoothly, you get a nice, even outpouring of enormous quantities of energy.

Anyway, without getting into the details of the matter, there were some circumstances that raised some concerns regarding the timely start of propellant loading. They were serious enough to delay the process, by only by an amount of time that had been previously made up by the efficient work of the whole campaign team, so the net result is, well, being about where we're supposed to be. We start oxidizer loading tomorrow, and the van will be by to pick us up at 7 am.

Victor called a little while ago. Apparently, some documents that we had received earlier in the day represented only the first part of the full complement of documents we were to have dealth with, and that additional pages are arriving as I type these words. He tells me there will be 5-6 pages that will require translation ASAP.

Another call just came through. The file has been received. I'm "on."

Cheers...

Coming down from high rpm...

When you do enough of any kind of translation, you get to the point where you no longer really need a dictionary, except for really unusual, new terms. The bulk of your time is divided between grokking and writing the translation. I finished the incoming document a while ago, and it is on its way to the ultimate recipients. I feel a sort of buzz, which is doubtless the result of revving myself up to get the text translated.

A couple of nights ago, I woke up with a cramp in my right hand. The hand no longer cramps, but any attempt to use the hand to, for example, unscrew the top from a bottle of water (which only happens a few times a day around here) results in sharp pain. I visited the campaign's doctor and he prescribed an ACE bandage to immobilize the hand for a few days. I take the bandage off to type, but otherwise am following doctor's orders.

I need to go make sure I wake up in time for the 7 am van tomorrow, and then get to sleep.

Cheers...